Simon Henning was on his way to work at Lloyds TSB in Northwich when he heard a woman passer-by shouting for help and saw a local man about to go under.

He managed to get a line across to him and kept him afloat until fire-fighters arrived and completed the rescue.

'I just heard a woman shouting there's a man in the river and dashed to see it I could help,' said the 26-year-old financial consultant.

'I could see he was an old guy and struggling to keep afloat. He must have fallen in as he was trying to moor his boat because there was a line near one of the anchor points on the quayside.

'He was panicking and looked as thought he was going to go under any second and I pulled him to the side of the bank while someone phoned the emergency services. The bank is six feet high so there was no way I could get him any further and I just I held on and tried to keep his spirits up.

'He was in a bad way but I kept telling him not to worry, the emergency services were on their way, and everything would be fine.'

Firefighters from Northwich under the command of Brian Cadwallader rescued the man and administered first aid until paramedics arrived.

While all this was going on, the pensioner's boat was still on the loose in the river creating a hazard.

'I realised something had to be done to stop it, so I jumped off the bank as it drew near, took the key out and moored it,' said Simon.